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What Are You Laughing At? Humor in Advertising

  • MatthewWatts
  • September 18, 2019
  • No Comments
humor in advertising

In 2018, 85% of internet users in the United States watched video content. Video marketing is an excellent way to reach more people when growing your business.

 

Reading is not only informed by what’s going on with us at that moment, but also governed by how our eyes and brains work to process information. What you see and what you’re experiencing as you read these words is quite different.
Jason Maria
A guy pressing a laptop on a couch

V

ideo production is the process of planning, filming, and finalizing a video. Producing videos is a great way to tell stories or implement a new marketing strategy. If you understand the basics of video production, you will know that it can take a while to create a video. However, when done well, a video can be an amazing piece of content. Whether you want to tell a story or market your next product, you should consider the stages of video production. Of course, no two videos will take the same length of time to produce. Some may move through the steps quickly, while others may take longer. One video might get stuck in one stage, while a different video will get stuck in a different part of the process. Still, you should know the different video production stages so that you can plan for them when creating a video.

Almost every video goes through the same basic steps, from coming up with an idea to premiering the video. It doesn’t matter if you’re making a short marketing clip or a full-length movie.

You need to take your video through the following stages:

  • Pre-production
  • Production
  • Post-production

While you might be able to breeze through these steps, take them seriously. You want to put out the best video that you can, and that can take time. Of course, you might be able to create a marketing video within a week or two. However, a longer movie could take months to complete. Before you begin making your first video, you should know what each stage entails. Then, you can account for the different stages when planning and scheduling everything.

Two colleagues, male and female sharing ideas
There is no sincerer love than the love of food.

One essential part of pre-production is finalizing the script. You don’t want to start shooting if you don’t know what you’re going to talk about. You should also list out all of the shots you want to get and what order they will go in. Creating a storyboard will help you visualize what your video will look like. Next, you should consider your budget. A music video will probably have a bigger budget than a customer testimonial. However, you need to know how much money you can spend for the rest of this stage. If you’ll have other people in the video, you should look for your cast. Of course, you can’t film your video if you don’t have all of the necessary people. Because of this, you should also look for any crew members, especially if you have a longer video to shoot. At this point, you’ll need to make sure you have all of the necessary equipment. You’ll need cameras, lights, sound equipment and a filming location. Depending on your video, you may need someone to manage hair and makeup. Make sure you have everything ironed out before you move onto the next stage

The production stage is probably the most exciting part of the process. You’ve done all of the planning, you have a great idea and you have a cast and crew to help.

Now, you need to film all of the shots and scenes for your video. Depending on how long the video will be, this could take a few hours. On the other hand, it could take weeks to get all of the footage that you need.

During this stage, don’t be afraid to get multiple takes of the same scene. While you might like the first take, you want to have options so that you can include the best footage.

Even if you’re making a short video for a marketing campaign, you want to get every possible shot now. If you realize later that you forgot something, it can be a pain to set up all of the equipment and film it again.

Make sure that you use the best equipment that you can. Set up lighting so that it looks good on the people in your video.

Use external microphones to capture voices more easily.

The more you do now to improve the quality of the video, the easier it will be in the final stage of video production.

Post-Production

Possibly the hardest step in video production is the post-production stage. It is where you take all of the footage you have and combine it into a high-quality video.

If you’ve never worked with video, this step can be intimidating. Luckily, a video production company can help you out.

You can edit the video by splicing the footage like you would with film. Then, you can cut out awkward pauses so that you only keep the footage that you want.

You’ll also need to make sure that the audio syncs up with the video. If you haven’t already, you should also get the rights to any music that you want to use.

Adding music can add more depth and interest to the video, which can make people want to watch it and share it.

If you have other sounds besides music, you may need to do foley. Foley involves creating sounds for a video but those sounds may not be music. One example would be using wood blocks to replicate the sound of horse hooves.

After you add everything in, you can review the video. Once you’re happy with the product, you can release it to the public.

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Herman Miller
Herman Miller

Video production can seem intimidating if you don’t have experience. However, if you know the three stages of creating a video, it can be less daunting. You can break everything into smaller steps to make it easier to do.

Still need help? Contact us to get a quote for your video project!

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humor in advertising

Take a moment and think about the ads that you remember from at least a year ago.

What do these ads have in common? If you’re like 50% of people in North America, these ads have some element of humor. 

Reading is not only informed by what’s going on with us at that moment, but also governed by how our eyes and brains work to process information. What you see and what you’re experiencing as you read these words is quite different.
Jason Maria
Text Vs. Video: Why Humans Prefer Video Advertising

Humor in advertising is not a new concept. People have known that humor works since the beginning of time. Okay, maybe not, but advertisers do know that humor in advertising proves effective when done well.

Why does comedy work so well? This comes down to what you want your advertising efforts to do.

How to Know If Your Video Ad Is Effective
There is no sincerer love than the love of food.

Why Does Humor in Advertising Work?

Ads with humor have 32% more engagement than non-humorous ads. This concept works best with brand-building, but it can also prove effective to sell products and services.

That’s because advertising comes down to telling a story. Humor helps you move your brand story along by connecting with your audience.

Comedy Advertisement – A Quick Attention Grabber

Consumers make a decision about your brand or product within seconds. This means you need to use shorter ads that grab their attention quickly. 

Videos that last no more than 30 seconds get the most attention. This means you want to create a connection quickly.

You want people to see your brand as relatable. Humor offers a quick way to show your personal side.

A Funny Ad Creates Positive Emotions

Since advertising comes down to storytelling, this means you need to create an emotional connection with your audience. You don’t want just any emotional connection though. You’ll get the most out of your ads if you create a positive emotional connection.

You want people to have a good feeling about your brand or products. You want them to connect you to things that make them happy. Well, humor makes people happy.

If you can reach them with humor, they’ll remember you as a brand that made them smile. The trick is to hit the right note of humor so you don’t overwhelm the message.

Using Humor Catches People Off Guard

We all know that online audiences find ads annoying. While they understand the need for ads, they avoid them as much as possible.

If you add an element of humor to your ads, especially early on, you have the potential to catch them off guard. Your target audience is more willing to stick around if they come across something that stands out from the normal ads that pop up.

This element of humor takes the sting out of the ad. People can forget they’re watching an ad if they find it interesting. 

Humor also ads a level of balance. If you’re sharing something that people normally find boring or common, humor can balance that problem. You can go from boring to memorable.

Positive Connection Leads to a Memorable Brand

People remember jokes. They talk about the things they find funny. They hold on to these humorous memories. If you can hit your audience in the funny bone, they’ll continue to think about you and your brand.

Think about some of those ads people talked about for months afterward. The Old Spice commercial with the manly man or more recently the “she shed” commercial from State Farm.

People laughed at these commercials, and they talked about them often. More importantly, people remembered the brands advertised in these commercials. 

Humor Builds Community

When people can share a laugh together, they feel closer to each other. Research backs up that humor brings people closer together.

Laughter makes people feel more connected to the person that made them laugh. It also makes them feel closer to the people they can share the joke with. This builds a natural community around your brand.

People want to share that laughter. That means people will bring others into the community by sharing the joke with others around them.

Humor Has the Best Potential to Go Viral

People’s desire to share humor also plays out on social media platforms. The videos that get the most views and shares are funny videos.

If you look at the trending videos on any platform, you’ll see that the top videos are the funny ones. This means well-done funny ads have the potential for viral-level social shares.

What better way to get the word out than letting others get your ad in front of new eyes? If you add that humor element, you have the potential for effective commercials with less work on your side to get them seen.

Humor Balances the Advertisement Field

It’s difficult to compete with those big names out there when it comes to creating brand recognition. These brands have more money than small businesses to spend on their marketing strategies.

The good news is, you don’t need a large budget if you can create a memorable ad. Humor gives this balancing effect to marketing tactics.

Humor gives small businesses a way to catch attention no matter how small the advertising budget. You have the opportunity to reach people on a competitive level if you know what you’re doing.

How to Create Effective Commercials Using Humor

While humor offers a competitive edge, it can also blow up in your face if you don’t use humor in advertising the right way. You need to know what people will respond to. You also know how to balance emotional connection with brand awareness.

Stay on Message

Humor for humor’s sake will not provide lasting brand recognition. Remember, you’re telling a story about your brand. Your brand needs to remain the protagonist in the story.

Any humorous elements you include in your advertisement efforts need to fit in with the brand story. These elements need to add to an understanding of who you are and what you offer.

A good example of humor going off message comes from PETA. They had a billboard asking people to save the whales by going vegetarian with a picture of an overweight woman. This ad got into fat shaming, which proves offensive and has nothing to do with PETA’s message.

Know Your Audience

Humor plays out differently depending on your demographic. This remains true for different ages, sexes, and even different cultures.

For instance, while people in North America laugh at sarcasm, this doesn’t play out well in China. You need to know your audience to understand what type of humor they’ll respond well to.

Before you create an ad, ask yourself who you want to reach with that ad. Do your research to understand what that target audience reliably responds to. Also, make sure you know what doesn’t play well.

Avoid the Raunchy and Offensive

Even if you know your target audience will respond to raunchy or offensive humor, you should still avoid including it in your ads. Others besides your target audience will have exposure to your ads.

If you offend too many people, it won’t matter if you reached a small group. Avoid ads that objectify and make light of serious subjects. You’ll likely lose even the people that find it funny due to the backlash.

Keep It Subtle

Sometimes hitting people over the head with funny messages can work. More often than not though, you’ll lose the overall message with forced humor.

Make sure humor elements blend with the ad message. The Twitter battles between Wendy’s and Burger King give a good example of this subtle humor. They poke fun at each other while promoting their different food offers. People have responded well to these battles and the companies had the chance to create more personal connections.

The trick here is that they didn’t shove the promotions in people’s face. They left the humor where it belonged, and increased their engagement because people wanted to find the interactions.

…But Make It Obvious

While you don’t want to hit people over the head, you also don’t want to force them to think too hard to get the point of the joke. If you have to explain a joke it’s no longer funny.

Jokes in advertisements follow this same principle. If people don’t get what you’re trying to do, the ad remains ineffective. Funny should be funny with no explanations.

PETA gives us another example of a funny fail. They came out with a list of animal-friendly changes to common sayings. They thought they were clever. The social media world found it annoying because they didn’t get the joke.

Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment

The best way to determine how people will respond to your message is to test out different ideas. You may have the perfect idea in your mind, but this doesn’t mean that idea will come across on the first try.

Take time to experiment with different emotional techniques when building your ad story. Try out different ways to create that personal connection brands need to have with their audience. Take the time to test these different methods out to find the ads that work for you.

Create Your Attention-Grabbing Video

To build your brand, you want to tell your story. Your different videos should continue to build on that brand story so your audience gets to know you.

Humor in advertising provides one way to grab attention. Whether you think humor will work for you, or you want to look into other video story-telling techniques, check out the video services we offer. Let us help you find that perfect story match.

PrevPrevious
NextNext
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on pinterest
Share on linkedin
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Herman Miller
Herman Miller

Video production can seem intimidating if you don’t have experience. However, if you know the three stages of creating a video, it can be less daunting. You can break everything into smaller steps to make it easier to do.

Still need help? Contact us to get a quote for your video project!

All Author Posts

Related Posts

video production
Industry Tips & Tricks

7 Tips for Hiring a Video Production Company

We live in an age where digital media is everywhere. We are a

video ideas
Industry Tips & Tricks

The Ultimate Guide to Video Ideas for Business Marketing

  Did you know that the number of people who watch online videos has

video production for business
Video Production Education

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« Previous Next »
About Me
A man smiling at his computer
Hello, my name is caitlyn vine jony. my job is to do lovely things to fill my little house in my free time.

Let’s Socialize

Facebook-f Twitter Pinterest-p Linkedin-in
Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated to our offers and deals!

We are committed to protecting your privacy

Popular Post
video production

7 Tips for Hiring a Video Production Company

June 23, 2022
video ideas

The Ultimate Guide to Video Ideas for Business Marketing

June 9, 2022
video production for business

Video Production for Business: What You Should Know

July 27, 2021
video production mistakes

7 Video Production Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

July 14, 2021
video production companies

7 Factors to Consider When Hiring Video Production Companies

July 1, 2021
animated infographics

What Makes Animated Infographics Such an Awesome Way to Convey Data?

June 23, 2021
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Viva Media Inc.

777 The Queensway
Unit 1
Toronto, ON
Canada

Facebook Linkedin Youtube
ABOUT
  • About Us
  • Our Process
  • Blog
INDUSTRIES
  • Startups
  • Technology
  • Financial services
  • Healthcare services
  • Nonprofit
  • Educational services
  • Agency video partners
SERVICES
  • Kickstarter video
  • Promo video
  • Internal communications video
  • Social media video
  • Tutorial video
  • Educational video
  • Explainer video
  • Food video
  • Customer testimonial video
  • Event video
  • Product video
  • Branded video
  • Corporate video
  • Commercial video
WORK
  • Our Work
  • Live-Action Videos
  • Mixed-Media Videos
  • Animation & Motion Graphics
  • Pricing
Capabilities
  • Concept & Creative Development
  • Pre-Production
  • Live-Action Production
  • VFX & Animation
  • Post-Production
  • Sound Design
Contact
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of service
  • Privacy policy